


The way I fall for you

by giokhalke



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Enemies to Lovers, Fluff, I'm Bad At Tagging, Light Angst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Please Don't Hate Me, Rating May Change, Smut Bonus Chapter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:22:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22168573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giokhalke/pseuds/giokhalke
Summary: “What do you mean you sleep with Seungmin? Our Seungmin? Your neighbor Seungmin?!” Hyunjin’s voice pierced his ear through the phone.“Yes! How many more Seungmin do we have, Hyunjin?! That Seungmin! The one and only Seungmin!” Jisung yelled. He had been pacing around his living room wanting to d word. He was dumped and Kim Seungmin was the one witnessing his most miserable state. To top it off, he probably slept with him.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Kim Seungmin
Comments: 50
Kudos: 331
Collections: drop everything and read this





	1. Chapter 1

Jisung was not supposed to be drinking his nth shots of whiskey. He wasn't supposed to be leaning against the bar entertaining a gross looking man who obviously just wanted to get under his pants. Jisung wasn’t supposed to let this man touch him like this. He wasn’t supposed to be so wrecked and let everything wrecked him.

He was supposed to be a level headed man, he was supposed to be leaving on a plane to Japan with his boyfriend. He was supposed to be living the life right at this moment.

“Hey, cutie. Wanna go to the back room and have a quickie?” The gross stranger lewdly whispered in his ear. Jisung held back the bile threatening to choke his throat. He was gross. His breath smelled like rotten flesh. If he was sober, Jisung would be in a hundred meters radius of him. 

“No! You smell like shit!” Jisung replied, chugging another glass of whiskey, ignoring how painful his head was throbbing.

“Oh come on, everything smells like shit at the back. Just close your eyes and let me take care of you,” Jisung felt the stranger’s clammy fingers closed on his wrist, lightly pulling him of the bar.

“I don’t want to, you dick!” Jisung tried wrenching his wrist of the man’s grip, but he was strong and Jisung was powerless when he was drunk. Jisung could see him grinning.

“You can’t resist me. Just be nice and follow me to the back,” The stranger pulled him and Jisung was almost dragged if not for a strong arm circling his waist and Jisung was pulled into a warm embrace.

“He said he doesn’t want to, trash!” Jisung heard a growl so close to his ear, and he couldn’t help but inhale the warm rich scent surrounding him. “Let’s go,” It was directed to him, much gentler this time and Jisung could hear the worry in his voice.

“No! I want to drink more!” Jisung whined, struggling as the new stranger placed his arm around his waist, while slouching Jisung’s arm around his shoulders.

“No, you don’t. You’ll die if you drink another glass!” The stranger said through gritted teeth.

Jisung continued to whine, “Let me drink! My boyfriend of a garbage cheated on me right before our holiday! I deserve to drink this sorrow and mend my broken-ugh-I’m gonna throw up!”

The rest of the night was a blur. Jisung remembered being carried to the restroom, before throwing up all over the dirty stall. He remembered warm hand on his back, comforting him, fussing over his collar and dirty shoes. He remembered crying on the stranger’s chest, screaming about how unfair life was and how he regretted to let that man into his life.

What he didn’t remember was how he ended up sleeping naked in an unfamiliar bed, unfamiliar bedroom, and the sound of running shower from what he assumed was the bathroom.

“Fuck,” Jisung cursed softly. His head was throbbing. His throat was dry and obviously scratched. His heart was hammering in his chest, who was it? Was it the bad smelling stranger?

Jisung shuddered. No, it shouldn’t be him.

He looked around the room, trying to find any clue about where he was. But, the room was bare of any personal touch. He couldn’t find any clue about who was on the other side of the bathroom door. 

The gear in his brain worked furiously. He had thoroughly embarrassed himself in front of a stranger, he probably slept with this stranger too. He couldn’t bear to face this stranger whoever he was.

Making his decision, Jisung got up from the bed. He noticed his belongings were placed on top of the bedside table. But, he couldn’t find his clothes.

He glanced at the still closed bathroom, the shower was still running.

Fuck it. It was his own fault for taking Jisung’s clothes off. 

Quietly, he approached the neatly organized wardrobe at the corner of the room, quickly picking up a pair of sweatpants and a sweater which smelled like fresh detergent and a hint of warm caramel. Jisung stopped himself from taking a sniff of the sweater as he wore it. With a slight distaste, Jisung noticed the way the clothes swallowed him.

Once he was done dressing, Jisung quickly grabbed his phone and wallet and took a flight out of the nice looking apartment. 

On his way out, Jisung’s eyes caught a glimpse of an open laptop covered with puppy stickers and a pile of manuscripts besides it. His gut told him that he should know it, but he couldn’t place it in his mind yet when all he could think of was running away from this place as soon as possible.

However as soon as he stepped out of the room and closed the door to the apartment, he couldn’t help but froze when he saw the familiar hallway. He turned to find a familiar looking door, the number engraved on the wall beside it and with horror, his mind registered the stranger’s voice and the laptop on a very annoyingly attractive looking man. 

Jisung stopped himself from screaming out loud.

***

“What do you mean you sleep with Seungmin? Our Seungmin? Your neighbor Seungmin?!” Hyunjin’s voice pierced his ear through the phone.

“Yes! How many more Seungmin do we have, Hyunjin?! _That_ Seungmin! The one and only Seungmin!” Jisung yelled. He had been pacing around his living room wanting to d word. He was dumped and Kim Seungmin was the one witnessing his most miserable state. To top it off, he probably slept with him.

“Wait. How can you sleep with him? Aren’t you supposed to be in Japan?” Jisung stopped in his tracks. Fuck.

In his panic, he forgot that he hadn’t told Hyunjin about the disaster.

“Jisung? Why are you still here?” He heard Hyunjin’s voice, now laced with worry. “What happened?”

Jisung bit his lip. “Hyunjin...”

“I’m coming over,” he heard Hyunjin decisively said before the line was cut.

Jisung stared at his phone’s home screen for a second before slumping down on the couch.

At the corner of his room, his luggage was lying untouched. He had been sleeping in his living room in the past few days, too drunk to make it to his bedroom. Or so he would like to believe.

Truth was the bedroom was the only place his ex-boyfriend ever set foot on. Their relationship was just merely making out and sex. Once he finished with Jisung, he would leave.

Jisung couldn’t understand what made him so blind. He was never happy in that relationship. He was suffocated. He was brainwashed into believing he was happy with that garbage.

Jisung felt nauseated by the memories, he ran to the bathroom, dry heaving over the sink, vomiting nothing but acid. He didn’t realize he was crying again.

“You look like shit, Han Jisung,” He mumbled after splashing some water on his face, “So pathetic,”

He crouched on the floor. Leaning his head on the cold tile, he closed his eyes to calm himself. His head was throbbing like crazy. He took a deep breath, the scent from the sweater unexpectedly calmed him and a memory of warm fingers dancing on his skin jolted him awake. His heart thundering in his chest. What the fuck was that? That certainly wasn’t his ex. It felt too warm, too gentle, and to Jisung’s dismay, too good.

Before he got over his shock, his doorbell rang, surprising him from his slipping thoughts. Thinking it was Hyunjin, and eager to forget whatever that thought was, Jisung ran to open the front door only to slam it back closed when he found out that it wasn’t Hyunjin. “Holy fuck!” Jisung cursed.

“Yes, holy fuck is correct, Han Jisung,” he heard the annoyed voice from behind the door he just slammed. “I was just wondering where has my favorite sweater gone. I never thought it would look good on you,”

“Oh, fuck.” Jisung cursed again. He was still wearing the clothes he had raid from Seungmin’s wardrobe. His skin tingled from where the fabric hugged him. 

“I got your clothes and underwear. Do you want me to leave it in the hallway? I don’t have any bag with me. You have a wild looking underwear here,”

Jisung quickly opened the door to find Seungmin with nothing but a smug smile and immediately regretted that he fell for the lie. He did have wild looking underwear, but that was not what he was wearing the previous night.

“It was still in the washing machine. You threw up all over your clothes,” Seungmin said, grinning in satisfaction as Jisung felt his cheeks warming.

“Asshole,” Jisung hissed, his voice cracked.

“Hmm? Sore throat? Well, you were screaming a lot last night. I got you a hangover soup.” Seungmin lifted up the plastic bag in his hand.

Screaming? Jisung felt cold sweat started to gather on his palm.

“D-did we-uh-did we-?”

“What do you think?” Jisung expected him to mock him, but instead Seungmin’s question came out genuine as he pierced Jisung with his gaze, an unreadable expression flashed on his face. He felt his heart thumped unexpectedly in his chest. Jisung open and closed his mouth, not finding any word to say, because he didn’t remember anything.

“Well, since you don’t remember. I’ll let you off this time.” Seungmin shrugged nonchalantly, his mocking smirk returned as he lifted up a plastic bag. 

“For your throat and hangover. Eat and sleep well.” Seungmin said, without waiting for his response, took Jisung’s hand and handover the plastic bag. He turned Jisung’s body and gently pushed him back into his apartment.

“If you want any reminder, there’s something on the back of your neck,”

Jisung slapped his suddenly burning neck as he glared at the chuckling man who quickly disappeared behind the closed door. Did he really-? Jisung ran to the bathroom for the second time. With his back facing the mirror, he pulled down the collar of the sweater and found two darkening marks on the back of his neck.

Jisung stopped himself from screaming the second time this morning.


	2. Chapter 2

Kim Seungmin was an editor in the publishing company where Jisung worked. He was in charge of the nonfiction department heading a few editors under his supervision. He was a very capable man, seemingly good at everything he did, was definitely an eye candy, but a pain in the ass to have as a coworker. Kim Seungmin was a perfectionist to the core. Hard to please, had a very short temper and Jisung had often been on the other end of the stick every time he blew up.

When he was first assigned to lead the marketing team in charge of the nonfiction department, he had literally begged Chan to assign him anywhere but to work along Seungmin’s team. He had heard the reputation and how many team lead had resigned from merely handling the nonfiction department. But in his vain, Chan was unmoving about his decision.

The first few months working with Seungmin, Jisung experienced what living in hell meant. Seungmin rejected almost all his proposals for the books they planned to publish. Criticizing every little thing, fussing over every single dot and coma, all with harsh words and hot temper.

They literally screamed at each other on the top of their lungs every day in the first few months they worked together. Their coworkers called the nonfiction department World War III zone for a while because of their fight.

However after the book was published, naturally their tension eased and once he wasn’t so clouded by his dislike on Seungmin’s fussiness, Jisung couldn’t help but notice how his critiques and suggestions actually helped Jisung a lot in the process. He even admitted that it was the best promotion he had worked on.

Not that he would tell Seungmin that.

His pride wouldn’t allow him. It was also his pride that made Jisung feign an animosity towards the younger man. Not that the black haired man did anything to hide his dislike to Jisung.

Every time they met, Jisung could hear a mocking at the end of almost every sentence coming out of Seungmin’s mouth. Jisung learned to ignore the mocking, but Seungmin was good with his words. He knew what to say to push Jisung’s buttons and Jisung’s hatred for Seungmin grew every time he ended up exploding.

Hence, sleeping with Kim Seungmin was an impossible feat that should have never happened in this lifetime ever. The marks on the back of his neck were burning, his hands itched to rub on the skin, trying to will the marks to fade as soon as possible.

Later, when Hyunjin arrived in his apartment, he immediately showed him the kiss marks. In a high pitched voice, retelling Seungmin’s visit half an hour ago. “He said, ‘if you need a reminder there was something at the back of your neck’! Like how dare he left two marks on me!”

Hyunjin shook his head, “Perhaps I should thank Seungmin. I thought I’d have to knock some sense into you if you cried over that bastard. But look at you seething over sleeping with Seungmin. Very nice. Really nice.”

Jisung slapped Hyunjin’s shoulders for that.

Maybe it was a good thing that he was on paid leave for the next three weeks. All he had to do was to avoid Seungmin at home.

“Can I stay over at your place?”

“Definitely not.” Hyunjin quickly replied. “Let’s redecorate!”

Jisung groaned, knowing that today Hyunjin would work him to the bone. His hangover hadn’t even passed yet and Hyunjin was making him move his bed, clean the mess that certainly should have been cleaned up a long time ago, and making sure Jisung was thoroughly tired before flopping down on the couch, letting Jisung cuddled him.

“See? It looks better now, doesn’t it?” Hyunjin looked over Jisung’s living room, opening his arms as wide as he could to show off the clean and redecorated place which took them almost all day. “This is what you get for editing an interior magazine for a living!” Hyunjin said proudly.

“Thanks,” Jisung mumbled against Hyunjin chest as he hugged him tighter. He knew that redecorating was simply Hyunjin’s way to distract him and making him look at his place in a new perspective.

“There, there, don’t get sappy on me.” Hyunjin patted his head. “Did you punch him?”

“Who? Seungmin? I didn’t get the chance. I was too shocked to say anything,” Jisung growled.

“I was talking about your ex, dumbass,” Hyunjin rapped his head. “I really should thank Seungmin for making you forget about your ex so quickly!”

“About your earlier question, yes, I did punch him, but it still makes me want to puke every time I remember that garbage,” Jisung cracked his knuckles in anger, “Also, aren’t you supposed to be mad at Seungmin because he took advantage of your best friend when he was drunk?”

“We’re talking about Kim Seungmin here, Han Jisung. He was straighter than any pine tree, well, except that he’s gay,” Hyunjin rolled his eyes, “He wouldn’t do anything like taking advantage of you,”

“Are you even listening to me? Do you need me to remind you what he said about the reminder he put on my body?” Jisung pulled his sweater down to show the purpling marks.

“Honestly, use your brain, Jisung. I know that Seungmin tops. You bottom. Did you feel anything? I didn’t hear you complaining about your ass.”

Jisung stopped his rambling and finally sat straight. “No, I didn’t feel anything.”

“There you go,” Hyunjin pat his back as if he was proud.

“Does it mean that he was messing with me?” Jisung asked incredulously.

“Nothing new there,” Hyunjin nodded his head.

“...and you realize it all along but you didn’t even bother telling me?!” Jisung glared at his supposedly best friend.

“I mean it was a good distraction,” Hyunjin howled as Jisung hit him with the couch pillows.

“You asshole! Fucking bastard! I hate you! I’m so fucking embarrassed! Hwang Hyunjin! I hate you!” Jisung kept hitting Hyunjin until they were both lying breathless, from getting worked out and laughing his ass off. “How can I face him now? My pride is destroyed, my life is over!” Jisung moaned dramatically.

Hyunjin rolled his eyes, “Get off your dramatic horse! It’s just Seungmin. He probably likes you too much. I doubt seeing you broke down and throwing up all over the floor would make him likes you any less,” Hyunjin mused.

A few seconds passed. Jisung thought Hyunjin was going to amend his declaration, because come on, Seungmin liked him? He had probably died and woke up in a different dimension if it was true.

But Hyunjin only stared at him, eyes glinting with expectancy and amusement. 

“Did you just say he liked me?”

“Obviously. Been a long time too,” Hyunjin answered, grinning like he just won a lottery.

“Are you mad?”

“Nope. Otherwise, why would you think he left you those marks?”

Jisung immediately clapped his suddenly tingling neck. 

***

Hwang Hyunjin and his blabbering mouth. 

Jisung tossed for the hundred times in his bed that night. His mind was plagued with the thought of the dark haired man next door, who based on Hyunjin’s statement, apparently liked him. 

Ha. It still didn’t make sense no matter how many times he repeated in his head.

He had pestered Hyunjin for more details but his soon-to-be-deleted-from-the-list best friend said it was not his place to tell him about it. He should just asked the person himself.

“Then don’t say anything in the first place, you piece of shit!” Jisung had yelled, choking the laughing Hyunjin.

Now here he was, lying awake in his bed, his mind going back and forth between half asleep and jolted awake because a certain someone’s face popped up before his eyes. Jisung groaned.

THUMP.

Jisung opened his eyes wide. What was that?

He heard shuffling and then it was quiet again. Jisung tried to steer his mind away from thinking there was a thief outside his door, “No, it’s just a cat,” he mumbled quietly. 

But still, grabbing the thickest book from the bookshelf on his bedside, Jisung creeped to the slide door connecting his room and the terrace. He heard another shuffling and Jisung opened the door swiftly, the book was held up high as he planned to strike whoever creeping outside his door, only to find nothing of the sort. Not even a cat.

“Huh?” Jisung stepped out to the empty terrace, the night air gently cooled him down. “Thank god it was nothing,” He breathed in relief.

However, as soon as the words left his mouth, he heard a scoff. The book in his hand fall to the floor with a thud. “Who was that?” Jisung yelped, frightened.

“It’s me, dumbass.” Jisung then saw a hand waving at him from the other side of the wall separating his terrace with the next one. Jisung quickly approached the waving hand and peeked his head across the railing to see Seungmin sitting in an armchair, hair messed up and his shirt halfway unbuttoned. Jisung could smell the whiff of alcohol in the air.

“Are you drunk?” Jisung blurted before he could stop himself.

“Yep,” Seungmin answered, eyes gleaming with amusement as Jisung clamped his hand on his mouth. “It was too hard to handle Minho-hyung and Mr. Park at the same time,”

“You were in a meeting?”

“Mmhmm. I went to these meetings more than I read manuscripts recently,” Seungmin groaned. Now that Jisung’s eyes adjusted to the dim lighting on their terraces, he could make out the light blush on Seungmin’s cheeks and the dark circles around his eyes. The dark circles and the glasses marks had always been there, but the blush was a sure way to know that Seungmin was drunk.

“You were drinking last night too,” Jisung pointed out.

“I did. Which is why I feel so horrible right now. I need the air!” Seungmin gestured to the chill atmosphere around them. They were quite high on the fifth floor and the building surrounding them wasn’t that tall, so they could see the city lights blinking around them. “Looks like you remember last night,”

Jisung blushed, quickly turning his head away. “Not everything. But at least I know we didn’t sleep together, asshole!”

Seungmin snickered, “It should be obvious, who would’ve guessed you’d fall for it,”

“God. I hate you and Hyunjin so much!” Jisung huffed.

“Blame yourself for being so gullible.” Seungmin smirked, then with a more serious tone he continued, “That being said, stop drinking by yourself, won’t you? If not for me, you’d be dead in an alleyway somewhere.”

“That’s because I…” Jisung started indignantly, but stopped halfway when he couldn’t find the words.

“Was out of your mind?” Seungmin offered. Jisung squinted his eyes. Even when he was drunk, Seungmin was still a smart ass.

“Fine. I was out of my mind!” Jisung rolled his eyes, then in a quieter voice, “Thanks,”

“You’re welcome,” Seungmin answered. Jisung heard him yawned. “Last night, I was painfully slapped.”

Jisung turned to see Seungmin closed his eyes. “I thought, being Seungmin, the man you hated the most was enough as long as I could see you happy.”

For a second, Seungmin paused, then he continued, his voice was softer, “Seeing you seething because I disliked the design that you choose, or your flustered face when I teased you too much, I was content. At least I was in your thoughts. But then last night happened.”

Another pause, before Seungmin breathed, “I realized I was so wrong,”

All that time Jisung felt as if he was underwater, holding his breath with his heart beating frantically in his chest. He waited for Seungmin to continue, but all that followed was gentle snores and the steady rise and fall of his chest.

Seungmin fell asleep on his chair.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> disclaimer: i know nothing about publishing company. please bear with me.

_icb you let me sleep on the chair. my neck is killing me._

Was what Jisung received on his phone the next morning as he strolled the aisles of the supermarket to buy his daily necessities. He had a big smile on his face as he picked up his favorite body wash, shampoo and conditioner. 

_i feel bad waking you up. you look like you need the sleep ;)_

Was what he replied. Jisung continued to stroll down the aisles. There might have even been a little skips on his steps.

Of course he wouldn’t tell Seungmin that he spent a good thirty minutes watching him sleep and wondering if he needed to wake him up and deciding it’d be better to leave him alone because hey Jisung was supposed to dislike him. 

_asshole._

Was what he received next. He couldn’t help the laugh bubbling in his chest. “Revenge is sweet, baby,” Jisung sang as he grabbed a pack of toilet paper and threw it into his trolley.

However, that bubbly feeling only lasted until he paid his groceries. He could practically imagine Seungmin’s annoying smile as he read the text.

_karma is a bitch, yknow :) good news is coming for you soon ;)_

It wasn’t even five seconds after he read the text, his phone vibrated and the home screen showed Chan’s face indicating that Chan was calling him. Jisung cursed.

***

He glared hotly at the two men in front of him. One was grinning in satisfaction, the other one was smiling apologetically.

“I’ll make it up to you, I swear,” Chan said, “The Sydney’s branch suddenly asked for enforcement and Felix hasn’t been home for so long, so I was feeling bad if I didn’t send him down there.”

“So, you send him there first before you even get a replacement?” Jisung asked him, his tone accusatory.

“I tried! But you know this guy! Everyone ran away before they even listened to what I was asking,” Chan complained, he glared at Seungmin who shrugged his shoulders.

“If they were half as good as you or Felix, I won’t even complain,”

“You’re just too hard to please!” Jisung and Chan both glared at Seungmin who put on an innocent expression, unwilling to agree that he was hard to please.

Chan quickly turned his attention back to Jisung as he put his hands together in front of him, pleading, “Come on, Jisung, help me out! I’ll even pay the amount of your paid leave on top of your normal salary,” 

“From your own pocket?” 

Chan obviously cringed at the condition but he was desperate to have Jisung back on his desk as soon as possible, “Of course it will be from my own pocket, you minx! You already get your salary and leave balance back from the company,”

“Then, fine!” Jisung agreed. It was responded with a victorious “Yes!” and Chan’s big sigh. 

“Told you, karma is a bitch!” Seungmin offered him his hand which Jisung slapped as he glared at the grinning editor. “Welcome back, Han Jisung.”

***

There was no fucking way this guy liked him.

Jisung glared at the man in front of him. 

He had returned to work for almost a week now. The job that he had taken over was actually his since Felix was supposed to replace him during his long leave. It wasn’t difficult to get him up and running when he was also involved in the preparation. Felix also left a detailed journal on what they did and what they planned to do.

It was supposed to be an easy job. But, count on Kim Seungmin to make his life difficult.

“Like I said, it’s unreasonable to go beyond 3,000 copies! We’re targeting young adults, our survey says that most of them prefers paperback than hardcover,” Jisung flipped the presentation slide to show the survey results that they did last month.

“It’s unreasonable for other authors, yes. We’re talking about Mr. Jeon here. His memoir, his photobook. His works have always been on the top of the shelves for months after release, 5,000 copies of the hardcover version is not unreasonable!” Seungmin countered.

They had been discussing the same thing over the last thirty minutes. Chan had been massaging his temples because both were too stubborn to back down.

“Look, Kim, we can always print another 2,000 once we sell the 3,000 copies. But, that 2,000 copies will ended up in shredder if we can’t sell it!”

“That’s your job isn’t it?” Seungmin pointed out. “You’re the one who wasn’t confident enough to sell those 5,000 copies! While I can guarantee you Mr. Jeon’s book will attract that much reader if not more! Do you even read the manuscript?”

Jisung felt his blood boiled. Fucking Kim Seungmin and his sharp tongue.

“Yes, that’s my fucking job and I know what I’m doing, bastard!” Jisung slammed his hand on the table, standing up to glower at the younger editor, “I still stand on my view that we shouldn’t print more than 3,000 copies! Everyone has worked so hard to publish this book, I’m not going to let 2,000 copies to be shredded! And I read the fucking manuscript, asshole! More than once and I know how good it is!”

Seungmin was about to reply, when it was Chan’s turn to slam his hand on the table, “Can we please eat lunch, first? You both are giving me the headache and I’m fucking starving!”

Both Seungmin and Jisung humphed as they sat back down, crossing their arms in front of their chest. Chan released a big sigh.

“Jisung, I want you to do deeper research. Look at Mr. Jeon’s fanbase, how many would actually buy the hardcover. Seungmin is right, we’re talking about Mr. Jeon, and we know how popular his works are,” Chan decided. 

Jisung wanted to slap Seungmin’s ‘told you so’ face. 

“...and Seungmin, you have to understand that 5,000 copies is beyond what we can risk. We’ll meet and talk again in two days after Jisung comes up with new data and decide how we will proceed.” Chan continued, ignoring the childish glaring between the two of them.

“Understood,” Jisung and Seungmin answered.

“Great! Now, let’s get out of this room. It’s suffocating and you both are killing me,” Chan quickly gathered his stuff and was out before Jisung or Seungmin could say anything.

Jisung could understand Chan’s feeling, because as usual, being in a meeting with Kim Seungmin always raised his murderous intent. He couldn’t blame Chan if he wanted to get out as soon as possible. Because, honestly, he felt the same.

Still feeling peeved about the whole meeting, Jisung swiftly closed his notebook and turned off the projector. He was huffing all the time, trying to calm the remaining fire in the pit of his stomach. As he stood up, he caught Seungmin’s amused smile and that brought a growl out of Jisung’s lips, “What’s so funny, asshole?”

“No. You reminded me of an angry squirrel,” Seungmin smirked, standing up as he picked up his meeting notes.

“An angry--Yah!” Jisung yelled, offended. 

But, Seungmin only laughed. “Do you like pasta?”

***

Jisung didn’t actually say yes.

Seungmin just dragged him to a cafe near their company building. It had passed the lunch time, so the cafe was quite empty save for a few tables near the window, where some company workers still enjoyed their lunch.

Jisung had chosen a table near the corner where not many people would notice unless they made an effort to look. They sat facing each other, Seungmin’s plate was already clean, while Jisung was still salvaging the remaining meatballs on his plate. 

Their tension in the meeting usually dragged on until the next meeting, leaving them in a state of hostility through the week. But, before this, Jisung had never eaten together with Seungmin, like ever, so he didn’t know that their tension could resolve so easily over a meal.

Or maybe it was due to Seungmin spouting nonsense during their lunch that Jisung was mad at him for a whole different reason now.

“It’s always fascinating to watch you eat,” Seungmin said. He had his chin on his hand as he stared at Jisung who was putting a meatball into his mouth.

Seungmin smirked. “You really look like a squirrel,”

That effectively stopped Jisung from munching his food. “Yah!”

Seungmin laughed, his eyes crinkling into a half moon shape. Jisung felt his heart burned with indescribable feeling. He turned his attention back to his food, ignoring Seungmin’s still amused eyes that was locked on him. Nope, that wasn’t endearing.

“See? You stored the food inside your cheeks first and then munch,” Seungmin said, poking his bulging cheeks, freezing Jisung in the middle his munching. Warmth spread from where Seungmin touched him. “A squirrel!”

Jisung slapped his poking finger away. “Stop making fun of me, bastard!” Jisung glared at him.

Again, Seungmin laughed. Jisung chided his heart when it skipped a beat. He never paid attention to how Seungmin laughed. Or how he looked when he was not mocking or yelling at Jisung at work. It wasn’t his fault Seungmin’s face used to irritate him so much that he preferred to look at anything but that annoying handsome face.

“I can’t believe I actually have lunch with you, right now,” Seungmin said. Jisung could feel his eyes boring into him. He found it so hard not to fidget under such a fond gaze. “I used to love watching you eat on your desk when it got hectic at work. You’d have a bibimbap on one hand, your notebook on another. Your cheeks puffed out, while you grumbled at your notebook.”

“The grumbling was probably because of you,” Jisung snipped at him.

“I’m flattered,”

“It’s not a compliment!”

“It’s still an achievement because you were thinking of me,” Seungmin smirked. Jisung really wanted to wipe that smirk off Seungmin’s face. He didn’t understand why it looked so hot on him right now. It used to vex him to no end. It still vexed him, but it made him look hot.

Seungmin looked startled for a second, before the smirk returned in full force, “I’m hot?”

Jisung slapped his mouth. He couldn’t believe he said that out loud.

“God, you’re so cute,” Seungmin pinched his cheek before standing up. “Do you want cheesecake for dessert? I need distraction otherwise I’ll end up kissing you,”

Jisung spluttered. Seungmin smirked at him before moving to the cake display near the cashier to choose their dessert. Jisung slammed his head to the table.

“Idiot!” His heart was racing frantically in his chest. 

Seungmin wanted to kiss him.

Fuck.

It was even more embarrassing than admitting that he was hot.


	4. Chapter 4

Jisung thought working with Seungmin after all the realization and his unabashed confession about wanting to kiss Jisung would be awkward. But, their tension and arguments as they worked together remained as thick as ever. Meetings were full of yelling and childish mocking, desk slamming and yells of each other’s names were still common occurrence in the nonfiction department.

The only difference was the fight never lasted long now. For this, Jisung must credited Seungmin for his attempt to make up with Jisung.

It was as if all their arguments were a mere fleeting occurrence. He would visit Jisung on his desk, dropping sweets and iced Americano as he tried to convince Jisung about his opinion and Jisung learned that understanding Seungmin’s point of view was easier when he had sweets in his hand.

“This is bribery,” Jisung had said when Seungmin dropped by with a cup of iced Americano and chocolate croissant one day.

“It works wonders. I kinda regret I didn’t think about this from the start!” Seungmin had grinned and they would start talking about books. Sometimes, it still led to silly arguments, but most of the times, Seungmin left Jisung’s desk looking satisfied their issues were resolved.

Seungmin had a cheesecake with him today. Jisung was still fuming after their arguments in the meeting an hour ago when Seungmin took the seat in front of him. They were disagreeing about the book launch concept this time.

“It won’t work, Kim Seungmin,” Jisung crossed his arms in front of his chest, glaring at the taller editor. “We printed 5,000 copies as per your majesty’s request, so for this book launch you have to let me do my fucking job!”

“Well I’m not here to stop you from doing anything,” Seungmin shrugged his shoulders, “I think it is best to leave you alone with that,”

Jisung eyed him suspiciously. It was unusual for Seungmin to rest his case as soon as he did, but the editor looked nonchalant as he stared at Jisung with a suspicious smile.

“...and so, to what do I owe this visit?” Jisung closed his notebook and crossed his arms on top of the table.

“What are you doing tonight?” Seungmin asked grinning widely now that he got Jisung’s attention.

“Uh, sleep?”

“Yeah, sorry for asking the obvious,” Seungmin rolled his eyes.

Jisung held back a smile before answering, “Fine. I have no plans. What do you want?”

“Ha! Somehow I get a second thought about this,”

“Your lost,” Jisung shrugged his shoulders and pretended to open his notebook.

Seungmin eyed him with judgement, looking like he really got a second thought before he finally sighed, “Honestly. Let’s see a movie,”

“A movie?”

“Yep. Dinner too if you want.”

“That sounds like a date,”

“It is a date.”

***

Hyunjin had been freaking out when he told him that they were going on a date. He sounded even more excited than Jisung when he heard the news.

“Fucking finally! I’ll plan the wedding!”

Ridiculous. Jisung had thought. 

He didn’t even understand why he agreed to a date with Kim Seungmin. All that he knew was that he wanted to see more of Seungmin’s side that he had uncovered in the last few weeks. However, when Seungmin showed up in front of him looking so unusually good even though they both finished work at the same time, Jisung felt cheated.

“What?” Seungmin asked when he noticed Jisung’s glare. 

“Did you do something to your hair?” Jisung asked as he slipped into Seungmin’s car passenger seat. Seungmin usually wore his hair down, fluffy hairs covering his forehead, almost reaching his round glasses. Adorable, if not for the sharp mouth.

“Huh? Well. Your best friend was quite adamant in making me look good,” Seungmin said, running his fingers through his styled hair.

“By my best friend, do you mean Hwang Hyunjin?” Jisung asked in disbelief as Seungmin nodded in amusement, “Okay, so he chose to help you look good instead of helping me, his own best friend?”

Seungmin snickered as he started the car, “Does it mean you’re trying to look good for me?”

“Don’t flatter yourself!” Jisung rolled his eyes. He didn’t have to tell Seungmin that he spent fifteen minutes in the restroom trying to do something about his own hair, which he decided would look best when he didn’t try anything.

Seungmin laughed, but thankfully dropped the subject when they drove to the street. “Let’s eat first. I’m starving,” Seungmin said as he tuned in the music player in his car. “Samgyetang’s okay with you? There’s this amazing restaurant near the movies…”

Jisung listened to Seungmin describing his favorite restaurant and ended up agreeing with him because he unexpectedly loved to see how excited Seungmin talking about his favorite things. That included when Seungmin played Day6’s songs all the way to the restaurant, while talking about how much he loved this band, “They’re my favorite band in the world!”

_ Obviously _ . Jisung had thought as he listened to him talking animatedly, looking more and more like an excited puppy as he talked. 

They were so engrossed into the conversation that when they arrived at the restaurant, sitting side by side with a bowl of samgyetang in front of them, it was him who blabbered to Seungmin about how he ended up working at a publishing company and about his childhood dream to become a rapper.

“You can rap?” Seungmin asked, surprised.

“You don’t believe me?” Jisung asked him back, before proceeding to rap a verse of one of his favorite songs.

Once he was done, Seungmin was looking at him with unconcealed admiration. It was almost making him shy. “We should go to a noraebang sometimes,”

Jisung only nodded, slurping his samgyetang, trying to will his warming cheek back to normal. They spent the next hour talking about trivial and non trivial things, about books and their occupation, and almost missed the movie if not for Seungmin took notice of the prime time news starting on the restaurant’s tv.

“God, I’d love to stay and talk if not for Hyunjin saying you’ve wanted to see this movie for awhile,” Seungmin said, casually snatching the bill before Jisung could say anything. “My treat,”

“I’m really questioning his loyalty these days. I thought I was his best friend!” Jisung huffed, following Seungmin out of the restaurant as he patted Jisung’s hair.

“There, there! Maybe he just prefers a cooler friend as his best friend now,” Jisung slapped Seungmin’s hand as the taller laughed at his puffy cheeks.

They entered the studio right at the moment the light dimmed. The seats were almost filled and they earned a hiss of disapproval when they made their way to their seats, obviously blocking the people behind them.

“Geez, chill, man.” Jisung had hissed and Seungmin snickered. The intro of the movie had started when they finally settled on their seats.

Jisung thought it would be easy to focus on the movie since hey, he was looking forward to the movie for so long, but somehow he was so painfully self-conscious of the man sitting beside him. 

He never realized before how the seats were so awfully close to each other. He could literally feel Seungmin’s warm tingling on his arm, the short electricity whenever their elbows touched, and the rich warm scent that he inhaled whenever Seungmin leaned in to comment on something in his ear.

Two hours passed so slowly and yet Jisung was feeling an unexpected regret when it was over.

“Wow. That was amazing,” Seungmin commented.

Jisung would love to say the same thing if he was actually paying attention to the movie, “I have to see it again,” Jisung said.

“That good?” Seungmin asked, an amused smile on his face.

“Yeah. That good,” Jisung lied before standing up, following Seungmin to get out of the studio. They talked about the song playing during the ending credits as they walked out. Commenting about how the whole original soundtrack were gems.

He was about to tell Seungmin that he wanted to go to the restroom when he heard someone called his name. A very familiar voice and Jisung was hoping that he heard it wrong. But, when Seungmin also stopped and turned around to look for the source of the voice, Jisung knew it wasn’t just his imagination.

“Jisung…”

Jisung turned around and saw the person who called his name. A man looking so familiar and yet also unfamiliar after not seeing his face for almost two months.

“Alex,” Jisung greeted coldly. On his side, he could feel Seungmin tensed and the next thing he knew he felt warm fingers slipped between his.

“It’s been a while. How are you?” He asked so nonchalantly, almost no sign of remorse in his tone. “I missed you,”

Jisung gritted his teeth. He thought he was done with this man’s bullshit, but unexpectedly he still felt cold fury swarmed in his stomach, making him feel almost sick.

He was about to reply when he heard Seungmin’s cool voice beside him, “May I know what’s your business with Jisung?”

Jisung turned his head to look at Seungmin’s side profile. He had his calm face on, but by the way he was squeezing Jisung’s fingers, he was far from calm.

He knew it was weird that it made him felt warmth spreading from his chest. But Seungmin somehow did melt the ice that suffocated him in just a few moments.

“I’m his ex-boyfriend, Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes. Who are you?”Alex asked, his tone mocking as he noticed their intertwined fingers.

Seungmin was about to reply when Jisung squeezed his hand, “Will you wait in the car for a minute? I’ll catch up with you soon,”

“Jisung—,” Seungmin started, but Jisung shook his head.

Seungmin looked reluctant at first, and persistently held his hand. But after Jisung reassured him that he’d be okay, only then Seungmin let his fingers go. Jisung smiled reassuringly when Seungmin looked back for a second, and took a deep breath when he continued walking before disappearing in the crowds.

Making sure Seungmin was out of sight, Jisung turned with determined face, facing the now smirking douchebag that he had the bad luck of calling as his boyfriend.

***

When he went to the parking lot, he found Seungmin stood leaning against his car, arms crossed in front of his chest and fingers tapping nervously at his elbow. It was infuriating how simply looking at him this way made Jisung wanted to run to him and just hugged the hell out of him.

“Hey,” Jisung greeted him when Seungmin looked his way.

Jisung almost melted at the way Seungmin sighed in relief. “You okay?” He asked.

Jisung stopped in front of him, taking his time to note every inch of worry on Seungmin’s face as he stared at him, patiently waiting for Jisung to answer.

“Can you hug me?” Jisung asked.

Seungmin looked taken aback at the request before spluttering incoherent words as red found its way to the tip of his ears, “H-hug?”

It was too damn adorable.

“Yes, smart ass. A hug,” Jisung stepped into Seungmin’s space, “You talked a lot about kissing me and everything but you lost your words when I ask for a hug?”

Jisung circled his arms around Seungmin’s middle, promptly buried his face in his chest, “Unbelievable.”

It took Seungmin a few seconds to reboot and circled his arms around Jisung’s body. “Your ears are red, you know,”

“Shut up!” Jisung mumbled against his chest. Seungmin chuckled before tightening his arms around him when Jisung snuggled closer to him. “Are you okay?”

“Curious, aren’t you?” Jisung teased.

“Not as much as I want you to be okay,” Seungmin answered and Jisung was left feeling warm once again.

“I just asked him to fuck off and never to show his face around,”

Seungmin pushed him at arm’s length, fiery eyes looking straight into his eyes, “But, are you okay?”

This time, Jisung smiled at him, half amused yet he put much sincerity when he answered, “I am.”

There was another wave of relief flouted across Seungmin’s face when he heard it. 

“Now, can I get my hug back?” Jisung asked. Seungmin looked like he was controlling himself from doing a crime when he pulled Jisung back into his arms.

“Do you realize that we’re still in the middle of the parking lot?” Seungmin asked against the top of his head.

“Yep,”

A moment of silence and Seungmin’s trembling body before a quiet, “Okay. As long as you’re happy,” was mumbled above him.


	5. Chapter 5

Jisung was still sniffling when the stranger carried him to a bedroom. His mouth tasted like bile, his head was splitting with headache. 

“You’re a mess,” He heard him sighed, but Jisung could tell the worry in his tone. “Let’s get you out of your clothes,”

He then felt fingers pried on his clothes, unbuttoning his shirt, carefully watching his every reaction, ready to stop whenever Jisung showed any sign of discomfort. It was after he successfully took off his shirt that the stranger seemed to realize something.

“Uh, I’ll get you some clothes,” The stranger stood up, but before he could walk away, Jisung grabbed the hem of his shirt.

“Stay,” It came out as a whisper since Jisung had scratched his throat when he threw up and screamed at the bar. The stranger visibly tensed, so Jisung, louder this time, almost pleading, looked up to him with teary eyes, “Please, stay,”

Jisung heard another defeated sigh before the bed dipped, and Jisung was pulled into the center of the bed. Two arms circled themselves around Jisung’s middle, and Jisung immediately buried himself into the warm chest of the stranger. 

“I hate you,” He heard him whispered against the top of his head. “I want to kiss you so bad,”

Jisung felt shivers ran through his spine and the stranger pulled him closer, embracing him with his warmth. He inhaled the rich scent of warm caramel and immediately felt soothed. His stiff body relaxed and Jisung could feel his eyes dropped with fatigue.

“I want to kiss you until you forget about everyone else, about everything else so that the only thing in your mind is me. Just me.”

“Then, kiss me.” Jisung mumbled. His eyes were heavy, but Jisung managed to look up to look at the now familiar stranger, “Seungmin…”

Jisung jolted awake from his dream, panting heavily as his mind replayed the scenes over and over again. He could still feel the warmth surrounding him, the tingling on his skin where Seungmin touched him, and the butterflies fleeting in his stomach as he remembered how he looked at him.

It was not a dream.

With the adrenaline pumping in his blood, Jisung could finally remembered details about that night. About how he ended up in Seungmin’s bed after that commotion in the bar.

“Oh, fuck.” Jisung cursed, face heating up after all the details fit into place. 

Kim Seungmin. His heart did a somersault whenever he thought back about his expression as he looked down to Jisung. It wasn’t the look that he usually saw in Seungmin’s face. It wasn’t even the expression he wore during that night in the parking lot. 

It was so raw, so undisguised. It was a look that bare Seungmin’s emotion that Jisung was sure he wouldn’t be able to see when he was sober. It told Jisung clearly of how he longed for Jisung, how he wanted Jisung for himself.

_“I want to kiss you until you forget about everyone else, about everything else so that the only thing in your mind is me. Just me.”_

Jisung banged his head to his soft pillow. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach, his face was burning with embarrassment. He felt his blood rushing in his vein, going as crazy as how his heart was beating.

Jisung didn’t think he could continue his sleep.

***

The next morning after the dream, Jisung thought he could pretend he remembered nothing and acted like he used to in front of him. However, he was painfully aware now of how just by the sight of him, it could make his heart race and face heat up like a volcano. It was as if a door was opened wide and exposed his naked self to the world. 

It was embarrassing and nerve wracking.

He couldn’t handle seeing Seungmin so soon.

Therefore, surprising Chan with his sudden enthusiasm to go outside, Jisung volunteered to survey venues and talked with their suppliers about the upcoming book launch event. He made sure to use all the time he could spend to work outside of the office and pretended he was so busy with work once he returned to the office.

Jisung thought it wouldn’t work, since knowing Seungmin, he wouldn’t let Jisung ignore him this way. But, Jisung only received a few texts from the editor in the last few days that he was away, mostly work related, which Jisung wouldn’t ever admit made him feel kinda miffed.

Jisung found the answer when he returned to the office for a meeting that he couldn’t get away from because Chan somehow threatened to cut his pay if he ditched him. Seungmin was assigned to coach a new editor on board, which obviously had kept him busy in the last few days.

“Is that the new editor?” Jisung asked Chan when they were eating lunch and saw the smiling boy talking with his fellow new starter.

Chan was about to answer when a voice interrupted him, “His name is Jeongin. Cute, isn’t he? I’m glad I hired him. Seungmin loves him!” Minho dropped on the seat beside him with a bowl of udon, grinning with satisfaction.

Jisung fake his surprise with a cough. Chan swiftly pushed his water bottle to his hand. “Right, I never actually heard Seungmin got mad at him,” he said, chuckling, “Rather, it’s Jeongin who looks like he’s so done with Seungmin’s prank,”

Huh.

“You haven’t met him?” Minho asked after he slurped his udon. “Jeongin, I mean,”

“Uh, no. I’ve been looking out for venues in the last few days,” Jisung answered.

“You should met him! If Seungmin approves of him, I bet everyone else will love him too,” Minho encouraged him, a satisfied smile was still etched on his face, “He was so against hiring a new editor, but look who’s fawning over him now, hah!”

Jisung was quiet as he digested the information. Seungmin loves the new editor, huh?

It was probably because of the udon, but Jisung felt his stomach twist uncomfortably. He watched as Jeongin walked away with his coworkers. Jeongin was cute. Even from this distance, he could clearly see the boyish charm. His smile was definitely his best appeal. The room was two degrees colder now that he was gone.

“Oh, speaking of meeting Jeongin, you’ll meet him this afternoon for the meeting. Seungmin wanted to show him about the book launch event and how we do it. Look forward to it! He’s so cute!” Chan excitedly said.

Jisung didn’t remember what he said to them, but hopefully it wasn’t about how he wasn’t looking forward to it.

***

Jisung was already settling in the meeting room when Seungmin entered, followed by Chan and the new editor.

“Why is it so hard to see you around lately?” Seungmin whispered in his ear when he passed him and Jisung suppressed the shiver that threatened to break on his skin. He could feel Seungmin’s stare on him before his gaze was drawn to Chan who clapped his hand, smiling excitedly.

“So! Since Jisung hasn’t met Jeongin before, let me introduce you two. Jisung, this is Jeongin, the famous newbie editor that has been stealing Seungmin’s heart,” Chan grinned to the embarrassed editor, “...and Jeongin, this is Jisung, the only sales marketer that could handle Seungmin’s charm in this company!”

Seungmin laughed without humor, “Funny, hyung,” which earned him a snicker from his boss.

Jisung ignored Chan’s comment about stealing Seungmin’s heart and put on his business smile as he offered his hand for Jeongin to shake. Jeongin eagearly stood up, shaking his hand and throwing him the brightest smile, “I heard a lot about you. I’m looking forward to working with you,”

“Same here,” Jisung answered, still with his business smile. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Seungmin stared at him with a slight frown. Jisung still avoided his eyes as he sat back down.

Receiving no reaction whatsoever, Seungmin said once they all settled back to their seat, “So, I asked Jeongin to join us today, because I want to familiarize him with the process. I believe we will be talking about the progress of the book launch event today?”

“Yeah. Before we start, I’d like you to check some things out,” Jisung said, distributing papers to the three of them, all the while, avoiding eye contact as much as possible with Seungmin.

They started talking about what they would do in the book launch event and where they would hold it. Jisung showed them the venues that he had scouted in the last few days, asking them their opinion about where would be the best to hold the event.

“Excellent!” Chan said after they swiftly made a few decisions about the venue and event rundown. “This is the first time that we finished a meeting without any hostility in the air,”

Seungmin rolled his eyes, before turning his attention to the younger editor, “Jeongin, do you have anymore questions?”

“Ah, yes. Jisung-hyung? Can I call you hyung?” Jeongin asked, looking up to Jisung with big foxy eyes. Jisung felt like cooing as he saw how cute he was.

“Yeah, of course,” Jisung answered. Jeongin smiled brightly and Jisung stopped himself from audibly cooing. From his peripheral view, he saw Seungmin covered the lower half of his face with his hand, which looked suspiciously like he was hiding an amused smile.

Jeongin then proceeded to ask some questions about the marketing plan. Asking about things that he wasn’t so clear about and even provided some feedback from his point of view about the plan.

After they finished the meeting, Seungmin patted Jeongin’s hair as Jeongin looked up to him with expectation, “Did I do okay?”

“Very good. As long as this guy over here didn’t yell at your suggestions, that means you’re doing okay,” Seungmin said, looking at Jisung’s way as he said it.

“You’re the one who usually yell at every little thing I suggest. I don’t think me yelling would value of anything,” Jisung didn’t mean it to sound as curt as it sounded, but there was something about Seungmin’s hand on Jeongin’s head that made his insides turned cold.

Both Chan and Seungmin raised their eyebrows at his sudden outburst. Jisung quickly put on his business smile as he excused himself from the meeting room, “Thanks, hyung, Jeongin. I’ll send the revised plan to your emails. Talk to you later,”

He then gathered his meeting notes and stood up from his seat, hurriedly walked out of the meeting room, avoiding Seungmin’s watching eyes as he did.

Instead of returning to his desk, Jisung made his way to the open space on their floor where they had a small garden for the employee to take a break.

“What an idiot,” Jisung hissed, “What a very lame way to lose your cool, Han Jisung,”

He paced on the small pathway between the hydrangeas and the boxwood shrubs, hidden from the people’s view if they passed the garden, buzzing as he took a deep breath to calm himself. It was so lame. He didn’t even know why he was so disturbed.

No. He knew.

It was his first time attending a meeting with Seungmin where he was not being a perfectionist control freak he was. In the whole meeting, Seungmin was cool headed, letting Jeongin to take the lead, only chirped in when Jeongin missed anything, but it was also in an almost gentle tone that Jisung never heard him used in a meeting.

Was it because Jeongin was there? Jisung bit his lip. He recalled the pat Seungmin left on Jeongin’s head, the proud smile that was constantly on his face as he praised Jeongin.

He felt his stomach churned at the thought.


	6. Chapter 6

“Han Jisung, how long are you planning to stay here?” Hyunjin poked the blanket burrito on his bed with his foot. Jisung groaned in response, and surrounded himself tighter with the blanket.

He had been staying at Hyunjin’s place for a few days now. He decided it was time to move out when he caught Seungmin was waiting for him in front of his door after the day he walked out of the meeting room.

He had been avoiding Seungmin in the office, using organizing the book launch event to work outside of the office as much as possible. He clearly ignored Seungmin’s calls or texts, talking to him instead through Chan if it was needed, with the excuse that he was always out of battery when Seungmin called or texted him.

Of course, Kim Seungmin didn’t believe him. He had been checking on Hyunjin, knowing that Jisung would run to him, but thank god, Hyunjin somehow still made it into his best friend list and told Seungmin that Jisung needed time for himself for a while.

“Running away won’t solve anything, you know,” Hyunjin started. Jisung felt the bed dipped when Hyunjin sat down on the edge of the bed. “I clearly told you, the one that Seungmin likes is you. You don’t have to be jealous.”

That was not the issue.

Well. Yes, if he had to admit, he was jealous at first. But then he knew Seungmin just adored Jeongin, the way everyone else adored Jeongin. Even Jisung found himself adoring Jeongin after he talked to him a few times. 

It wasn’t Jeongin. It wasn’t even Seungmin.

He was asking himself if it was okay for him to fall for Kim Seungmin so quickly.

He had fell for Seungmin like waterfall. His feeling streamed fast and deep, and by the time he noticed, his heart was already full of Kim Seungmin. He loved the way Seungmin filled his heart with warmth. He loved the way Seungmin still treated him like Han Jisung, his mortal enemy at work and the sweets that came after their arguments. He loved the way Seungmin listened to him or the way he told stories. They only went to one date, but Jisung was sure he wanted more. 

He remembered their first night, he loved the way Seungmin could comfort him so quickly. Even simply his sweater was enough to calm Jisung. It was amusing since at work, even their most civilized meeting was never free of silly arguments.

Jisung hugged himself tighter. He loved the way Seungmin embraced him. Warm and tight. Jisung had never felt so comfortable and content the way he felt when Seungmin hugged him. 

He loved the way Seungmin made him felt loved.

It was scary how much he felt about a man he used to call his enemy. He needed time to take everything in, to understand what he was feeling. He wanted to see Seungmin, his heart had been aching. But, he didn’t want to recklessly dive into something he didn’t understand and drown Seungmin with him.

“Seungmin will kill me when he knows I say this to you,” Hyunjin said after a long silence, sounding defeated. Jisung felt the bed dipped again and Hyunjin wrapped his body around his blanket burrito. “He likes you ever since we started at the company,”

Jisung threw the blanket away from his head, “That was years ago, Hwang Hyunjin!” Jisung screeched in disbelief.

“It  _ was _ years ago!” Hyunjin rolled his eyes, “Now, will you listen to me first?” He glared when Jisung looked like he was about to talk. Jisung shut his lips.

“Remember how we were dying from Minho-hyung’s training in the first year?” Hyunjin asked, and Jisung nodded. He still remembered quite clearly how Hyunjin almost quit the job after the torturous training. Jisung himself was a newbie back then, but Chan’s spartan training was nothing compared to Minho’s. Only the strongest editors survived.

“Seungmin said it was thanks to you that he survived and now doing his dream job,” Hyunjin patted Jisung’s fluffy hair.

“Thanks to me? What did I do? And why did he didn’t do anything if he liked me for such a long time?”

“Seungmin never tells me what happened between the two of you. But, for that last question, isn’t that why he is regretting it now?” Hyunjin said somberly. “He was watching you from the sideline all this time and then he saw how much you’ve been hurt. It took him years to have the courage to own his feelings for you and it cost him seeing your heart broken,”

“Now, as your best friend, I don’t want you to experience the same thing. Denying your feelings for him will only hurt the both of you. I know his feelings are genuine for you, and I know you, Jisung. You won’t be here if you don’t feel anything for him,”

Hyunjin patted Jisung rhythmically over the blanket as silence engulfed them, allowing Jisung to digest what he just heard.

“It’s just, is it okay if I fall for him this easily? Is this normal?” Jisung mumbled against the blanket.

“Ha! Me and Changbin-hyung dated a week after we met!”

“That’s because you two are horny rabbits!” Jisung pointed out.

“I am offended because I love Seo Changbin’s heart first and foremost before his ass!” Hyunjin declared and Jisung feigned disgust at his confession.

“Point is! Don’t overthink it, Han Jisung! Feelings are there for you to feel not to think. Go for it, be brave! If you’re happy with Seungmin, make sure you never let him go!” Hyunjin said, 

“For all I know, you deserve this happiness, Jisung,”

***

Jisung sat on the bench outside the restaurant, sighing as he felt his body weighted by the fatigue that finally caught up with him. They were having dinner to celebrate the successful book launch event which naturally led into a drinking party.

Jisung sneaked out of the restaurant, feeling the need to breathe the fresh air as he saw his colleagues drown bottles after bottles of soju and beer. It was a difficult scene to watch when you were the only one sober. He was starting to feel the weariness after they finished their job. It felt especially tiring since in addition to preparing for the event, Jisung found it difficult to sleep the previous night.

He thought too much about what to do if he met Seungmin, what to say if they had to talk, when in fact, they were too busy to actually pay attention to each other. Jisung was running back and forth to ensure the event ran smoothly while Seungmin was attending to the author and readers, acting as the MC of the event.

Maybe he really shouldn’t overthink it. Jisung sighed, closing his eyes as he felt the night air cooled his body.

“Can you please stop disappearing on me?” Jisung opened his eyes when he heard the familiar voice. Seungmin sat beside him on the bench, his cheeks were tinted with red, his hair a mess, the usual signs he was drunk.

“Are you drunk?” Jisung asked even though he knew the answer.

“Yep. It was hard handling both Minho-hyung and Chan-hyung,” Seungmin answered as he leaned back against the backrest, “Huh? I feel like we have this conversation before,”

Jisung chuckled, “Yep. It’s just there’s no rails between us now,”

“Right,” Seungmin closed his eyes, his lips quirked upwards as the memories passed him. Jisung took his time to stare at his side profile. It was only a few days, but it felt like he hadn’t actually look at Seungmin for years. 

He was wearing a light blue shirt, which had been unbuttoned and rolled on the sleeves. There was supposed to be a dark blue jacket on him, but he probably ditched it when they drank. He styled his hair, soft wavy hair was parted in the middle, encompassing his usually cute face into a more mature look. Jisung couldn’t find himself looking away. Seungmin looked absolutely dazzling.

“I miss you,” Jisung blurted out.

Jisung would have thought Seungmin fell asleep if not for the frown on his face. “I think I’m hearing things,” he heard him said.

Jisung rolled his eyes, “No, you’re not.”

Seungmin immediately opened his eyes and turned to look at Jisung with wide eyes, “You said you missed me,”

“I said I missed you,” Jisung nodded.

Seungmin looked speechless as he stared at Jisung with unbelieving eyes. It was too cute, Jisung was having a hard time keeping his expression straight. He could see puppy ears on Seungmin’s head as he tried to digest Jisung’s words.

“That really sobers me up,” Seungmin said and Jisung couldn’t help the giggle from spilling. “When Hyunjin said you needed time to think, I was dying with anxiety,”

Jisung suddenly noticed the fatigue on Seungmin’s face, his dark circles looked deeper, a reflection of his own if not worse. “I thought you were finally thinking you can’t handle me and my shit so I was really preparing for the worst when I followed you here,”

Jisung’s expression immediately softened when he heard those words. Perhaps, Hyunjin was right, running away would only hurt them both. Looking at Seungmin right now, he felt the slightest regret for ignoring him in the last few days.

So, he reached out to Seungmin and brought him close, hugging him because he knew they both needed it. They both had run in circles for so long, and they both needed to know that they didn’t have to run anymore.

Seungmin didn’t move at first, but after a few seconds, Jisung felt his arms around his middle. The content sigh that followed was enough to bring a smile on Jisung’s lips. He felt Seungmin tightened his arms around him and Jisung was reminded again of how much he loved being surrounded with his warmth.

“I’m so relieved,” He heard Seungmin sighed, “I like you so much, Jisung,”

Jisung thought back about what Seungmin said that night. He wondered if he felt the same way as Jisung did at the moment. Of how much he wanted to feel his lips on his, of how much he wanted to make him forget about everything else but him.

He wanted to know and he wanted to act on it.

With his heart thumping crazily in his chest, Jisung brought his lips to Seungmin’s ear, voice trembling as he said,

_ “I want to kiss you so bad. I want to kiss you until you forget about everyone else, about everything else so that the only thing in your mind is me. Just me. _ ”

***

“God, I love seeing you in those,” Seungmin said when Jisung came out of the bedroom, freshly showered wearing his favorite sweater, the one Jisung stole from his closet the first night he stayed over.

“Can I have this?” Jisung asked as he twirled around the living room, showing off the oversized sweater and his bare feet.

“Nope. That’s my favorite. You can wear it only when you stay over,” Seungmin handed him a cup of coffee as he leaned down to press a chaste kiss on Jisung’s lips. “Shit. I still think I’m dreaming,”

“Cheapskate,” Jisung returned the kiss as chastely, “It’s not a dream. Get used to it,”

“I sure will,” Seungmin smiled at him before turning back to the stove where he was frying bacon and scrambled eggs.

Ever since he woke up, Jisung couldn’t stop his lips from turning upwards as he watched Seungmin moving around the house. He was doing the most mundane things; organizing his things, laundering their dirty clothes, drying his wet hair, cooking; but Jisung found everything to be so interesting.

Jisung looked around the kitchen and living room, finding traces of the dark haired editor on almost every piece of furniture. Manuscripts, his laptop, books. It was a complete opposite of his bare bedroom.

“Your bedroom felt so empty now that I see this ultra organized mess,” Jisung commented.

Seungmin raised his eyebrows at his choice of words, “I didn’t use my bedroom that much,”

“Why?”

Seungmin looked up from the frying pan, looking like he was thinking about something, “Uh, your bedroom is right beside mine. It’s difficult to relax when I know you’re lying just a wall away,”

“Are you thinking of me when you--”

“Okay, shut it. I’m not telling you that.” Seungmin put a toast on his mouth to stop him from talking.

“What are you getting embarrassed for? I know you like me since newbie days,” Jisung said as he munched the toast.

“How—” Seungmin looked back in surprise before realization dawned on him, “Hwang Hyunjin! I should have known he won’t keep his mouth shut!”

“So, newbie days?” Jisung smiled teasingly.

“Nope. Not telling you that,” Seungmin fed him the scrambled eggs. The tips of his ears were red.

“Hyunjin said it was thanks to me that you’re doing this job,” Jisung said gently, motioning the books and manuscripts around them. Seungmin was quiet as he plated their breakfast.

“He even told you that?” Seungmin looked awkward as he sat across him. Jisung waited patiently until he continued, “Uh, well, it’s true that if it wasn’t for you, perhaps I wouldn’t be able to continue to work here,”

“Do you remember when Minho-hyung shredded all the newbie editors’ manuscript because he said they were all trash?” Seungmin asked, looking amused at how much Jisung was paying attention to him.

“Ugh. He is probably the reason why you’re such an ass today,”

“Hey, I’ll tell him you say that!”

“No. Please don’t. I won’t survive,”

Seungmin chuckled, “So after that we all broke down, right? Hyunjin probably had it worse,”

“Yep. He wanted to quit,”

“Yeah. We all did. But, what kept me going was your words.”

“My words? At that time? Didn’t we argue that time?!” Jisung asked in surprise and Seungmin smiled fondly.

“We did. You were trying to comfort Hyunjin, but I was so cynical about everything and ended up making you angry. You said you didn’t care if I quit or whatever, but you both had worked so hard to stand at that point so you wouldn’t let Hyunjin quit,”

“I was so mad at you. I kept cursing you in my head, I was so obsessed with doing my best so that I could prove to you that I also worked hard for this job. But in the end, during the dinner party after we complete our training, you fucking come to me, drunk and half asleep and said ‘Seungmin, you did well. Congratulations.’ while patting my head and I was sold.”

“Did I really do that?” Jisung asked, his stomach twisted that he didn’t remember what he did when he was drunk. 

Seungmin patted his head, noticing Jisung’s apologetic expression, “It was not your fault. I was the one who fell for you one sidedly,”

That didn’t help ease his pain. He had been so blind for never noticing Seungmin’s feelings.

“Beside, it’s my own fault for acting like an asshole all these years instead of showing you that I like you,” Seungmin shrugged his shoulders, taking a bite of his own toast as he threw him a grin.

Jisung felt his heart twinged at the sight. He loved Seungmin’s smile, it was sweet and warm. But at the moment, it was forced and somewhat painful. He decided that he didn’t like it.

“Right. You’re an ass,” Jisung jumped off the kitchen stool that he was sitting, and made his way to Seungmin’s side. He spinned Seungmin around and pulled him into a hug. “But I like that you’re an ass,” He mumbled against Seungmin chest. He heard Seungmin chuckled as he swung their bodies sideways.

“Thanks. You’re an ass too. Both figuratively and literally,”

“Yah!” Jisung gasped when Seungmin slipped his hands under the sweater to squeeze his ass.

“Don’t you think it's a good day to stay in bed?” Seungmin smirked before leaning down to kiss Jisung’s lips. His protests were swallowed by a smiling lips and a rumble of amused laugh when a moan slipped off Jisung’s lips.

If you asked Jisung about kissing Kim Seungmin in his kitchen with only a sweater on three months ago, he would say it was a stupid question. He had probably died and lived in a different dimension.

But now that he had Seungmin in his arms, sharing hugs, kisses and coffee, Jisung wouldn’t mind dying to have this every day in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh, i ended up not including any explicit scene in this chapter. but i feel bad if i leave it at this after the summary and a promise of rating may change on the tags. so, a bonus chapter. explicit smut scenes on the next chapter. feel free to skip it if you're uncomfortable with it.
> 
> thank you so much for sticking with me on this story. thank you for the kudos and comments. very much appreciated. it motivates me a lot while writing this. love you, all.
> 
> see you again next time~


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter includes: top!seungmin x bottom!jisung smut, anal sex, blow job, fingering, rimming, bareback.
> 
> enjoy~

Jisung gasped when his back hit the closing door of the apartment. Seungmin’s lips on his was feverish, but Jisung got to say it out, “My birthday?”

“Lame, I know. Now, can you shut up?” Seungmin bit his bottom lip as he gasped a laugh.

“You’re too cute!” Jisung pressed his lips fully on Seungmin’s already abused ones. Seungmin groaned, Jisung had been edging him on since they left the restaurant. It was fortunate that Jisung was the one driving, otherwise he doubt Seungmin would be able to get them back to his apartment.

He felt Seungmin’s hands creeping up his shirt, sending flame on his exposed skin. His right leg slipped between Jisung’s legs, giving pressure to his sensitive groin. “We’re still in the hallway, Seungmin,” he gasped as Seungmin’s fingers found his nipple.

“I’m well aware,” Seungmin said against his lips before slipping his hands down Jisung’s thighs and lifted him up. They both groaned at the friction, lips still pressed against each other before Seungmin pulled away and carried him to his bedroom.

Seungmin dropped him to his well made bed unceremoniously. “How did you find time to make your bedroom this organized every single day?” Jisung pulled off the blanket off the bed.

“Why do you have to mess it up every time you come over?”

Jisung squinted his eyes as Seungmin climbed on the bed, “This is only my second time, and the first time, I was drunk!”

“It’s fascinating you did the same thing now that you’re sober,” Seungmin unbuttoned his shirt, and Jisung groaned when he threw the shirt off his shoulders.

“I guess you’re not lying when you said I was hot,” Seungmin smirked when he noticed his reaction, taking off his shirt and threw it somewhere behind him.

“How the fuck can I lie about that?” Jisung growled before he pulled Seungmin on top of him. Seungmin immediately settled between his legs before leaning down to kiss him again. Jisung unabashedly moaned into the kiss when Seungmin grabbed his jean clad ass. 

Jisung ran his palm on Seungmin’s bare back, feeling the smooth and warm skin lighted up from his touch. Slowly sliding his hand to his front, feeling his abs and move dangerously low until Seungmin caught his hand and pulled away from their kiss.

“Sheesh, eager, aren’t you?” Seungmin said as he pinned Jisung’s wrists on his side. Jisung tilted his head innocently, which earned him an eye roll from the taller.

“Keep doing that and I’ll mess you up,” Seungmin groaned as he claimed Jisung’s lips on another kiss, devouring the moan that Jisung emitted from the threat. 

He bucked his hips up, “To do that you have to take my pants off!”

Seungmin audibly groaned, “You and your smart mouth,”

Jisung grinned, lifting up his hips when Seungmin struggled with his jeans. Seungmin froze for a second when he saw what he was wearing.

“I was joking when I said you had a wild looking underwear. Didn’t expect you’d actually have one,”

“Fuck you.” Jisung pulled up his shirt, showing off his leopard print boxer, “This is my lucky underwear. I look sexy on it,”

“It actually turns me off a bit, so let’s take it off,”

“W-wait! Yah!” Jisung yelled as Seungmin pulled his underwear off, “That’s so not sexy,”

But, Jisung didn’t get any response and when he looked up, he saw Seungmin staring unabashedly at his exposed body. “Fuck,” Seungmin mumbled.

“I thought it turned you off,” Jisung said with a teasing smirk.

“How can you believe that?” Seungmin asked, taking Jisung’s hand and pressed it on his own hardness. “I swear I won’t stop now, Han Jisung,”

“I’m not asking you to stop,” Jisung opened his legs, Seungmin visibly gulped before scooting closer to settle himself between his legs, “Ready?”

“Fuck, yeah.” Seungmin groaned and he returned to shower Jisung’s face with kisses as he unbuttoned Jisung’s shirt, fingers dancing on his flat stomach, teasing the happy trail leading to his achingly hard cock.

All the while, Jisung fumbled with Seungmin’s pants, casually pressing the palm of his hand on the bulge that was straining his cotton pants. “Fuck, you’re big,” Jisung mumbled, feeling the shape of the hardness as Seungmin took his shirt off.

Seungmin chuckled against his neck, “Look for yourself, Jisung,” He guided Jisung’s hand into his pants and Jisung couldn’t stop the moan spilling from his lips. It was hot and hard. Jisung slowly stroked the shaft and realized that he couldn’t even properly closed his fingers around it.

“Fuck, Seungmin,” Jisung moaned. He tugged at the pants and Seungmin gladly obeyed as he moved back to take off his pants, freeing his erection. Jisung pried his eyes away from the hard cock, to look up at Seungmin who was grinning in amusement watching his reaction. “Can I suck you off?”

Jisung’s eyes caught the slight twitch his question did to Seungmin’s cock before he heard Seungmin groaned low in his throat. “Can I eat you out?”

Jisung’s answer was a moan as Seungmin’s flipped their bodies so that Seungmin was the one lying on the bed and Jisung leaning on his arms and knees hovering on top of him. Jisung grabbed the hard cock in front of him, slowly stroking it as Seungmin parted his ass, teasing his clenching opening.

Jisung gave the head a tentative lick and he felt Seungmin tensed under him, his finger was pressing the tight ring of muscle, lightly coaxing it to open a little wider. Jisung moaned, tasting the precum that had gathered on the tip of Seungmin’s cock before slowly putting its head into his mouth.

He heard Seungmin’s sharp breath intake, his warm breath teasing his sensitive groin as Jisung put more of the shaft into his mouth. It felt heavy against his tongue, he could barely fit the head into his mouth, but Jisung relaxed his throat and managed to swallow half of the cock before pulling it out, sucking the tip lightly.

“Fuck, that’s good,” Seungmin said against his opening as he squeezed his asscheeks. Jisung moaned around his cock, feeling Seungmin’s tongue ran from his ball up to his twitching asshole. His finger, wet with lube, prodding the opening, slowly pushing the digit into the relenting ring of muscle. Jisung took a deep breath, inhaling more of the hard shaft into his throat as the finger sank deep into him.

Seungmin’s tongue was dipping into him, sending an electric shock up his spine whenever it dived down into his hole. He could feel Seungmin’s teeth gnawing at the rim, as more fingers joined the first finger in him. “Nnh, Seungmin…” Jisung moaned and he could feel Seungmin twitched in his hand.

“You sure you can do it?” Seungmin asked, a teasing tone was in his voice as he noticed Jisung had been a moaning mess as his fingers sunk deeper into him, his cock was neglected even though Jisung was still holding it in his hands.

“Fuck you,” Jisung gasped as Seungmin started thrusting his fingers in and out of his ass. He had his tongue and lips licking and sucking Jisung’s hard cock, precum was dripping constantly from the tip of his shaft. Realizing that Jisung was no longer able to respond, Seungmin flipped their bodies over again, keeping his fingers inside Jisung as he twisted the digit, trying to find the one spot that would make Jisung see stars.

“Seungmin...nnh…” Jisung moaned, gripping his arm as Seungmin thrusted his fingers in and out swiftly. He reached for his cock, slowly pumping the hard shaft as he felt his orgasm approaching. “Shit. Seungmin, a bit to the left!” Jisung gasped when Seungmin’s fingers missed the spot. 

“Here?”

Jisung arched his back as Seungmin finally hit it. “Ah! Seungmin!” He clenched his inside, aching to make Seungmin touched that spot again. Seungmin increase the pace of his thrust seeing Jisung’s response, Jisung could see the strain on his muscle as his fingers thrust frantically.

“Fuck. I’m coming!” Jisung moaned, twisting his body as white creeped at the edge of his vision, but then Seungmin pulled his hand away. “Kim Seungmin!” Jisung shrieked in disbelief for having his orgasm denied.

Seungmin only smirked at him, his breathing was heavy and his usually fair skin was flushed, eliciting another moan from Jisung as his cock twitched at the sight. 

“Why are you so hot?” Jisung moaned.

“Why are you so hot?” Seungmin groaned back when Jisung spread his legs wide realizing what Seungmin wanted to do. Seungmin took his position between his legs. His cock was so hard, it was straining against his stomach. Precum was dripping from its head, sliding down the length and dripped to the sheet below them.

“Come on, give it to me,” Jisung purred. Seungmin growled before pouring a hefty amount of lube on his cock, thoroughly coating it before leaning down, pressing his cock on Jisung’s opening. 

“Ready?” Seungmin asked.

Jisung nodded and moaned keenly when Seungmin pushed himself into him. He watched Seungmin’s expression morphed into full concentration as he controlled himself from thrusting everything all at once. “Fuck, you feel so good around me,” Seungmin groaned. 

“You feel so good inside me,” Jisung pressed his lips on the corner of Seungmin’s lips. His cock was stretching his inside, pressing against all the right place inside him.

“Jisung…” Seungmin groaned when Jisung clenched and unclenched his inside trying to get used to the hardness inside him. “I’m trying to hold back here,”

Jisung bucked his hips in response, “How about don’t?”

There was a flicker of light in Seungmin’s eyes that told Jisung that he just snapped Seungmin’s control off. It gave him a moment to brace himself to receive what Seungmin gave next. A hard thrust and an on point pound on his prostate. Jisung arched his back, fingers blindly grabbing for Seungmin’s shoulder, pulling him closer.

He had been so close to climax when Seungmin pulled his hand away, now that Seungmin was back to abusing that spot with his cock, Jisung was quickly drowned in ecstasy. The feeling of Seungmin’s cock inside him, hot and hard as it stabbed him repeatedly soon brought him to the edge of orgasm again.

“I’m coming! Jesus, Seungmin!” Jisung gasped, coming between their stomachs. His body spasmed as pleasure ran its course down his spine. His sight was temporarily blinded by white as spurt after spurt of sperm fell on his flat stomach. 

It was overwhelming. This was probably the best orgasm he had for a while. It took him a few moments before his body stopped shuddering with pleasure. His skin was still tingling and he was still shaking when he took a deep breath, finally gained back the sight he lost only to look up and find Seungmin’s eyes on him.

“Feel good?” Seungmin asked, smiling down at him when his eyes finally focused back on him.

“So good,” Jisung smiled back. Seungmin’s face was flushed, his lips were red from their kisses and his hair was damp with sweat. The look lit up the fire that had just waned for a second in the pit of his stomach. He never imagined he would see Seungmin on top of him, looking tired but very much excited staring down at him with lust filled eyes in this lifetime. He must definitely had never imagined how much simply looking at him that way would turn him on.

“You look so sexy right now,” Jisung moaned.

“Right back at you, baby,” Seungmin smirked before leaning down to kiss him. He started moving his hips as Jisung kissed him back, biting and sucking on his bottom lip, teasing Jisung with his tongue. 

Jisung moaned as he felt Seungmin’s purposefully grinded his hips against his sensitive prostate. He felt the younger editor’s lips quirked up into a smile when Jisung let out a particularly loud gasp when he snapped his hips and drilled his cock deep into him.

“I’m moving, alright?”

“You’re already moving, asshole!” Jisung growled and Seungmin snickered in return.

He thrusted shallowly at first before gaining speed. The lewd sound of skin slapping against skin immediately filled the room as Jisung’s moans grew in crescendo. He caught Seungmin’s eyes boring into him, watching every expression, feeling every reaction.

“Fuck. I can watch you all night and I’ll still get hard,” Seungmin grunted as he lifted Jisung’s legs and hooked his knees on his arms, allowing him to thrust deeper into him. His cock was throbbing inside him, hot and hard, and ready to explode.

“We have all night. Fuck me as much as you want,” Jisung answered and he almost laughed when he felt Seungmin lost his momentum and warm liquid filled his inside as soon as the words left his mouth.

“Jesus, Jisung,” Seungmin moaned, hips stuttering as he pumped his come into Jisung’s opening. Jisung pulled him close, lightly nipping on his red ear while clenching and unclenching his inside, trying to milk Seungmin’s cock of all his pent up want.

“That was quick,” Jisung chuckled. Seungmin replied by slamming his cumming cock hard into him, moaning as Jisung gripped him tighter, clearly not wanting to let go anytime soon.

He then fell down on top of him, panting as Jisung rubbed a circle on his back. Jisung kissed his fair shoulder, biting and marking the skin, patiently waiting for Seungmin to come down from his orgasm. He felt Seungmin twitched inside him when he bit particularly hard on the juncture between his neck and shoulder.

“Let me breath, will you?” Seungmin groaned when Jisung continued with his ministration.

Hearing that, Jisung circled his legs around Seungmin’s middle and flipped their bodies over, earning himself a yelp from the dark haired man. “Breath as much as you want, Seungmin. I’ll do what I want,” Jisung smirked at him and the room was soon filled again with their moans and the sound of their love making.


	8. The way I love you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first chapter of 'The way I fall for you', in Seungmin's POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is self-indulgent. Well, everything I wrote is self-indulgent, but this is extremely self-indulgent.  
> Do pardon the crude writing.

"I'm dropping Mr. Suh off. See you tomorrow." Minho waved to him and Seungmin inclined his head slightly to his leaving supervisor. 

His smile dropped as soon as their backs disappeared from view and he sighed. He was already tipsy from the little amount he drank as they entertained their authors. They had been doing this in the last few days, effectively lowering his alcohol tolerance each passing day.

Seungmin had always wondered if it was really necessary to entertain their authors like this. When he decided to do this job, he just wanted to read unreleased books, put his hands into the making of those books and watch how those manuscripts magically transform into a book that is ready to be put on display until it gets into the reader's hands.

He never imagined his dream job to include entertaining authors almost every night trying to please them so they stay with them for a while longer. He had refused at first when Minho dragged him out on his first occasion, and Minho, with a big smile on his face, had twisted his collar and said chillingly through his teeth, “If you’re still a junior editor, I mayhaps will let you off. But since you’re a fucking head editor now, try escaping this and I’ll smother your first manuscripts collection into dust.”

He sighed again before picking up his jacket, and walked out of the private room they reserved for the night. 

Lee Minho was a fucking demon.

He remembered his newbie days, undergoing Minho's spartan training, understanding what it meant to want to die but he had to keep going. Minho coached them as if his life depended on it and even though Seungmin was immensely grateful for his knowledge, sometimes he just wanted to curse his superior and watch him hit his toe on a chair leg.

And remembering those days meant bringing back memories of a certain brown haired man that stayed in his mind for the longest time.

Seungmin sighed again.

He was walking down the dim hallway, making his way to the front door, eyes sweeping around the hall of the bar where music blasted from the speaker, when his eyes caught a mop of brown hair. It was almost pathetic how he perhaps could recognize that head anywhere. 

He stopped on his track, eyes glued on the person leaning against the bar, chugging his drinks. Even though it was dim, Seungmin could make out the frown on his face, the bloodshot eyes, and the uncoordinated movement of the brown haired man as he pushed the guy who was leaning against him.

Seungmin frowned. This picture felt wrong somehow. 

He remembered talking to Hyunjin and involuntarily received information about how the brown haired man was taking a three weeks leave to go to Japan for holiday. With his boyfriend. 

Seungmin pretended he wasn't feeling another blade stabbed his chest when he heard the news. He was supposed to be numb from the pain after how long he had a one sided crush on him.

However, this was certainly not Japan and the guy pestering him was certainly not his boyfriend. 

His feet had unconsciously brought him closer to the bar, his eyes locked on the flushed face and he now noticed how overpowered he was as he pushed the guy who pestered him. Seungmin quickened his pace and was in time to hear the man say, "I don't want to, you dick!"

His blood immediately boiled when he heard what the other guy said next. Aggressively pulling the brown haired man into his chest, he growled at the pestering guy, “He said he doesn’t want to, trash!”

The body against him was warm, his waist was thin, and Seungmin noticed in dismay how haggard the other man looked with his eyes red and puffy, “Let’s go,” Seungmin mumbled against his ear as he tried to put the struggling arm around his shoulder.

“No! I want to drink more!” He heard him whine.

Seungmin gritted his teeth. “No, you don’t. You’ll die if you drink another glass!”

He continued to whine, “Let me drink! My boyfriend of a garbage cheated on me right before our holiday! I deserve to drink this sorrow and mend my broken-ugh-I’m gonna throw up!”

The rest few hours of the night was something Seungmin wanted to so badly erase from his memories, but also one he wanted to cherish simply because it was Han Jisung. He was throwing up all over the toilet, crying and screaming against his chest about his cheating boyfriend. His eyes were red and wet, looking unfocused at him as he kept sobbing and hiccuping, until it ceased to quiet gasp and Jisung passed out in his arms.

Seungmin could only groan as he picked Jisung off the dirty floor and grabbed them a taxi once they were out of the restaurant and bar. Jisung clutched his shirt, unconsciously sobbing against his chest as Seungmin rubbed his back to comfort him.

Once they arrived in front of Jisung’s apartment, Seungmin shook him unkindly to fish out the passcode of the half conscious man. However, Seungmin was only replied by groans and whimpers which he promptly ignored.

"You drunkard!" Seungmin growled as he punched the passcode of his own apartment. He was half glad Jisung was nowhere near sober. Otherwise he wouldn't be so willing to be dragged into an apartment with his birthday set as the door passcode.

Well, to be fair, he wouldn't even be willing to be helped by Seungmin at all.

Seungmin sighed as he settled Jisung in his bedroom. Perhaps it was his fault to be so twisted and ended up making his crush hate him. But, what could he do?

He just loved troubling Jisung. Teasing him unceasingly, making him angry on purpose because Jisung was as cute as an angry squirrel. Not to mention, being colleagues at work meant that Jisung often witnessed and experienced his bad temper when his work didn’t go his way. It was like he couldn’t help it. Their relationship was simply not meant to be a bright smooth road.

Which was why, when Hyunjin told him that Jisung got himself a boyfriend, Seungmin had resigned. He thought, as long as Jisung was happy, he could always be Seungmin that he hated. That way, he could still remain in his thoughts.

However, it was back then.

Today, it was a different story.

Seungmin had never felt anger burned up in his chest like this. His heart had been bleeding for a long time, but seeing Jisung this way, it felt like it was ripped out of his chest and left out to dry in the dirt. It hurt. It hurt even more than ever because Jisung was hurt by someone who didn't treat him right.

Jisung was still sobbing. His clothes and shoes were dirtied by biles, his face was red from how much he cried and tried to wipe the tears away.

Seeing him like this, he felt his anger dissipated and worry began to fill his mind. He had never seen Jisung so defenseless before. His heart ached, and Seungmin sighed before getting down to stand on his knees as he reached out for Jisung's shoes. "You're a mess. Let's get you out of your clothes."

Gently untying the shoelaces, he took off the dirty shoes and put it aside before straightening himself to unbutton the bright flowery shirt Jisung was wearing. Seungmin kept his eyes on Jisung's face, watching every single reaction, hands shaking slightly as he carefully opened up the dirty shirt. 

He was greeted by fair shoulders and toned chest, clean and unmarked, and Seungmin involuntarily shuddered. It took sometimes for him to look back up and stammered, "Uh, I'll get you some clothes."

He was half standing up when he felt a tug on his shirt.

"Stay,"

Seungmin froze as he heard the hoarse whisper. The hands on his sides clenched unnoticeably, and Seungmin held back his breath, his heart thumping harshly in his chest.

"Please stay." 

This time, he saw that tear filled eyes looked up to him, almost pleading and Seungmin's resolve crumbled. With a defeated sigh, he climbed the bed, pulled Jisung towards him and settled against the headboard of the bed, wrapping his arms around Jisung's naked shoulders.

Jisung buried his face in his chest while he buried his face on the fluffy brown hair below him. Seungmin took a deep breath, feeling his heart struggling to break out of his chest, "I hate you. I want to kiss you so bad."

He felt the body in his arms shook slightly, the hairs on the fair arms stood up, and Seungmin pulled him closer, wrapping himself even tighter around the smaller body. He heard him take a deep breath and slowly, the body against his relaxed and Seungmin accepted all the weight that was pressing him warmly against his bed.

“I want to kiss you until you forget about everyone else, about everything else so that the only thing in your mind is me. Just me.” He mumbled against the top of Jisung’s head, not expecting to hear anything in reply.

Hence, his heart almost stopped when he suddenly heard a whisper, “Then, kiss me.”

The voice was laced with fatigue, hoarse and yet soft, so Seungmin thought he must have been half asleep. But, when the head on his chest moved and heavy lidded but clear eyes stared right back into his, Seungmin felt his breath caught in his throat.

“Seungmin…”

Then, he dived down to catch those lips that he had been wanting to kiss for so long between his lips. He could taste bile, smell the whiff of alcohol on his breath, and feel the warm trembling lips against his as Jisung gasped. It was disgusting, but Seungmin could care less.

He sat up, hands buried between Jisung’s hair, pulling him closer to his face, lips sucking and tongue licking every crook and nook in his cavern. He flipped their bodies over so that Jisung was now lying on his back, hairs scattering against the white sheet of his pillow, face red and eyes half-lidded looking up at him, sighing, “Seungmin…”

And Seungmin descended once again, capturing the almost smiling lips in another kiss. This time, Seungmin took his time, gently kissing and nibbling the lower lip, caressing the smooth jaw with his finger, inhaling each gasp and gentle sigh escaping from the lips against his. 

When he pulled away, Jisung’s eyes were closed. His breathing was gentle and there were still droplets of tears on his lashes. But, he was obviously asleep.

Dumbfounded, Seungmin leaned back to gaze at Jisung’s sleeping face, “How could you--sigh…”

Seungmin laid his head on Jisung’s chest, sighing, “Why am I even in love with you?”

He felt Jisung’s arms circled themselves around his shoulders and Seungmin tensed for a second. However, when he peered up, Jisung still had his eyes closed and his breathing was still as steady as ever. Gritting his teeth, Seungmin growled in his throat, “I’m not going to let you forget about this.” before proceeding to grab the back of his neck and bared his teeth against the warm skin.


End file.
